In 1897, Dr. Philip O’Hanlon was asked by his then-8-year-old daughter Virginia whether Santa Claus really existed. O’Hanlon suggested she write to The Sun, a prominent New York City newspaper at the time.

Virginia’s letter became the introduction to an editorial in The Sun, and is reprinted here. Merry Christmas one and all!

Last week, some fast food workers demonstrated in favor of a $15 per hour minimum wage. But now is not the time for Issaquah to consider jumping on the bandwagon.

Issaquah has a front row seat to see how Seattle is affected by the $15 minimum wage. We should watch and see whether the experiment will turn out the way Seattle hopes or if there will be unintended consequences.

The weekend after Thanksgiving is the busiest shopping weekend of the year, and many small businesses rely on the holiday shopping period to ensure a successful year on the books, according to the federal Small Business Administration.

That’s why the day is known as Black Friday, because heavy sales often move a business from out of the red financially into the black.

The city had proposed a 150 percent increase in the city’s B&O tax to add $1 million to the budget’s general fund for 2015. The increase was to be phased in over the next two years with the first phase to be implemented April 1.

Initiative 1351 is being called The Washington Class Size Reduction Measure. The name is intended to appeal to an electorate with short attention spans and little time for or interest in details. A recent Elway Poll revealed that 66 percent of those polled say they will definitely or probably vote in favor of Initiative 1351.